Disclaimer: Just the usual gang.  If you recognize them they’re not mine, and if you don’t then guess what they belong to me so :oP 

Rating: Still R, you will be informed if and when this changes

Author’s Note:  This is set just after NiC just wanted to clear that up.  So without further ado…..

 

CHAPTER 4

 

We all trooped into the house.  I headed directly to the couch dropped into the corner of it. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs.  I could hear the others moving around the house and I didn’t care if they all just went to bed.  In fact, that was what I was hoping would happen.  I kept seeing Diego’s face in my mind’s eye. I could picture him smiling, and not the arrogant smile that he had been wearing at the club tonight.  What really bothered me was the fact that I couldn’t have told you why I knew him, I just did. 

 

Why couldn’t I remember who I was?  Why couldn’t I remember anything?  These thoughts kept buzzing around my head like angry hornets and wouldn’t go away.  I so wished I could remember anything that might give me a clue as to why I was so afraid of Diego.  But it wasn’t just fear that I felt. As I closely examined my feelings, there was a feeling of hurt and abandonment. but that was ridiculous wasn’t it?

 

I was jerked out of my internal dialogue when someone cleared his or her throat.  That snapped my head up and I was looking directly into Anita eyes. In her eyes I could see concern and a small seed of doubt forming.  Here it comes, I thought to myself, now she is going to tell me to find somewhere else to be.  I met her stare without flinching. Maybe my confusion was evident, and I heard her sigh.  She ran a frustrated hand through her hair. It was a gesture that reminded me of my little sister when I had screwed something up again.  Wait a minute. Little sister. I have a sister; I silently ponder the significance of that thought but was only rewarded with a vague shadowy outline of a young woman about six feet tall.  The harder I tried to see her the more the image seemed to disappear.  I wanted to cry but crying wouldn’t help me figure out just what in the hell was going on.

 

“Luna,” Anita started, “who was that guy at Guilty Pleasures tonight?” she asked like she was afraid I would freak out if she didn’t stay calm.

 

“Diego,” I said simply.

 

“How do you know him?”

 

“I don’t know. His name just came to me when I was standing there.”

 

“What is your relationship with him?”

 

“I say again, Anita, I. Don’t.  Know.  Don’t you think that if I knew I would share the information with you?” I was getting angry.  I wasn’t angry at Anita but myself because I felt that I should know why I was afraid of him.

 

“I don’t know what to believe, Luna. From what I hear from Micah,  you have been acting strangely today. I have more people to think of than you,” she was getting just as angry.  “And while we’re at it. How the fuck do you know about me?” her anger coloring her words.

 

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I did decide to tell you how I knew so much about you.”  I was calming down now. Don’t ask me why but whenever I sensed a confrontation coming, I would always get this sort of numb feeling.  I would always feel it thinning out my face and leave my eyes empty of anything remotely human.  My sister called it my sociopath face.  Just thinking of her made me wonder where she was and why it had taken me so long to even remember that I had a sister. Let alone a little sister. Well maybe little wasn’t the right word, when I was only 5 foot 5 inches tall, but the idea was the same.

 

I was close to crying again. I could feel my eyes watering. Then I could hear a cruel voice in the back of my head saying ‘go ahead cry, let them know how truly weak you are’.  At the sound of that voice my tears dried before they even had a chance to fall.  I took a deep breath and realized I had dropped eye contact with Anita. And I could smell her fear. That made the beast that I had recently acquired sit up and take notice.  It was a lovely spice to the meal, my inner animal was telling me.   I clamped down on that thought and slammed my shields into place, again thanks to the Anita books I knew basically what to do. To me my element was metal and all I had to do was imagine a prison cell for them to work. 

 

“Luna,” Anita was trying again.  “What exactly do you remember now?”  she asked like she was tired of going over the same territory. But maybe if we backtracked we may be able to figure out how to move forward. 

 

“I have a sister, Dayla. She is my younger sister, but she’s taller than I am.  I don’t even know what she looks like. The more I try to see her, the more vague she becomes.”  My voice quivered with unshed tears.  It hurt that I wasn’t able to give an accurate description of my own sister.

 

Then it came to me. My wallet.  Maybe I would have a picture of her in there.  I dropped my feet to the floor, leaned forward, quickly pulled my purse off my back and started digging for my wallet.  Anita was looking at me like I had really lost my mind. I could feel the weight of her gaze, but ignored it.  I was close to finding out what my sister looked like I was sure of it.  When I finally found my wallet, I pulled it out and opened it to look at the pictures I had in there. 

 

The first picture was of a young man in his water polo outfit, looking very scrumptious.  He had short brown hair and eyes, full lips and a body of an athlete.  Well what, would you expect of a water polo player, I thought as a small smile played across my lips.  This was Christian. Not Chris but Christian.  If you wanted to keep breathing, he used to tease, it was Christian.

 

The next picture was of Christian and some young woman he had taken to homecoming.  And let me tell you, he looked just as good in a tux as he did in next to nothing.  The third was of a Hispanic male with a woman that looked to be half black and half white. Anya and Fernando, they had a little girl together, Tealee. They were going to have another child soon.  Anya was my best friend next to my sister that is. 

 

The next picture was a beautiful black young woman and her daughter, Tasha and Simone.  Tasha was a girl I worked with at a prison.  She was young and full of life, kind of like I had been when I was her age. 

 

Another picture showed a pair of young women, one of them was I and the other had to be Dayla, she was sitting down. She had waist length dark blonde hair, and she had a half formed dimple in the left cheek. Our features were so close that you could tell we were related. This is what I had been looking for. A picture of my connection to something or someone else in this world. 

 

The last picture took my breath away. It was of Diego and I. It was one of those couple pictures with him sitting behind me. We were dressed in that summer casual that manages to be both formal and informal at the same time.  I dropped the wallet like it had some contagious disease. I moved back into the corner of the couch, like I was trying to melt into it.  I could feel myself shaking my head, and then I could feel myself begin to shake all over. Diego and I hadn’t just been friends. We had been lovers and he had left me because I couldn’t be who he wanted me to be. 

 

The tears, that had been threatening since I had started this conversation with Anita, now fell in earnest.  I cried, not the kind of tears the movies will show you, where the heroine is still beautiful while she cries, but the kind of tears that were messy and made your eyes and lips swell up.  I cried as if my heart was breaking, and in a way it was. I had just relieved the single most painful event in my young life. The breakup of someone I had thought to be in love with.

 

I could sense Anita get up from where she had been sitting and come over to me.  I heard her pick up the wallet and knew that she was looking through it just like I had.  I knew when she got to the last picture. Her intake of breath told me she understood just how I was feeling right now.  The really sad part was, in small corner of my heart I still loved Diego. And that made this all the harder somehow.  It seemed that he had all his memories in tact and knew who I was, but until tonight I hadn’t even know he existed.

 

I looked around the living room. There was no one there, except for Anita and I.  I could hear Caleb moving around in the room we had shared last night.  Had it only been last night, I thought to myself, because it felt like years had passed since this morning.  I had thought of a few good question to ask.  Maybe this night was looking up. I highly doubted it, but I’ve been wrong before.

 

“Anita, I need you to get in contact with the police department and see if they can find anything on me,” I said without preamble.  She just stared at me as if trying to figure out who the hell I was.  I continued on, “Also find out if I have a background with the police in any fashion.  Because as I was going through my wallet one of the girls in there and I used to work with in a prison.  For some reason I’d say start with California.”   I was no longer looking at her. My mind was racing. I was close to something here, I could feel it.  That would explain why the prison cell would work as my element of metal.  Humans had designed them as a means to protect themselves from the dangerous elements in society.

 

“Did you want me to do this now, or can I do this when I wake up in the morning,” Anita asked with a mix of weariness and humor.

 

I chuckled softly to myself.  “Tomorrow’s fine, Anita. I finally feel like I might be making some progress here and want to find out how I got here and why I feel so disoriented.  Ya know?”  Anita just nodded and stood up handing my wallet back to me. As I was putting it away when I could feel and smell something coming.  It wasn’t something I recognized.  I stood up quickly, too quickly I think, because I swayed where I stood. Anita looked at me strange.  “There’s something out there,” I told her. 

 

She didn’t even question me. She pulled her Browning out and held it pointed at the ceiling.  I opened my shields just a little, so that I could test just how good my senses were.  Talk about a trial by fire, I thought with distaste. If I’m wrong, then we’re dead.  I could sense about five of them and they were trying to be stealthy but failing. Humans I thought.  I could smell, actually smell, the firepower that they were carrying.  They were all armed and they were here to hurt and maim. You didn’t bring guns unless you actually planed on hurting or killing your target.  I held up five fingers telling her without words how many intruders we had.  Anita just nodded and crept up to the door, making sure to keep a low profile and weaving towards the door.  To anyone else it might have looked like she was drunk but I knew that you needed to weave in order to avoid being shot.  If she had moved in a straight line, like most people do with out thinking about it, there was a possibility that she might not see the next nightfall. 

 

Anita was checking out the front yard, when we heard a window break at the back of the house.  Anita and I moved at the same time towards the disturbance.  I motioned her back to the window, and said in a quiet voice full of authority, “You stay here make sure nothing comes through this way and I’ll check out the noise.”  Anita nodded. I went towards the back of the house, where I had heard the commotion come from.

 

I moved down the hallway, like I had been training doing it and maybe I had. But I couldn’t remember ever being trained for something like this though.  First, I checked on Caleb. He was on the floor like he didn’t know what to do when someone else was doing the attacking.  When he saw me, he started to crawl toward me. I shook my head and motioned for him to stay where he was.  The last thing I needed was a shadow right now.  I drew the Browning in a gesture that spoke of regular usage. It was fluid and practiced.  I noticed Caleb’s eyes widen but ignored it.  Making sure that the windows in here were in tact and seeing that they were I moved on. 

 

I moved down the hall, to check the next bedroom. It was cold, and I knew I had found the source of our breach.  I scanned the room looking for anything obvious,  I didn’t see anything that would help me.  I scented the air. I could smell our unfriendly guests still out there.  If they were waiting for me to turn on the lights, they were in for a long wait.  I could see at night like most humans saw at noon, the dark didn’t bother me at all.  In a crouching gait, I rounded the bed and spotted a container. Curiosity wanted me to go over there and open it. But you know the old saying, Curiosity killed the cat.  I had no wish to be the cat in question.  Going back the way I came, I went back to Caleb and motioned him in front of  me.  I wanted all of those still in the house in one spot.  Back in the living room I crouched by the corner of the couch and shot a questioning glance at Anita.  She just shook her head.  Well what the hell. Usually the bad guys don’t just sit and wait for you to make the first move. This just felt wrong.

 

As if they knew we weren’t going to make the first move, I saw the glass window shatter a second before the actual sound of a gunshot registered.  Using the couch as cover, I peered over the edge of it and saw someone coming through it.  I fired three quick rounds and ducked behind the couch.  Behind me I could hear Anita firing at someone through the now shattered glass window by the door.  Daring another glance over the couch I could see a body on the floor, but didn’t stop to pursue the sex of my victim.  The adrenaline was pumping in my veins. I saw something else moving towards the door took, aim and let loose another three shots.  Hoping that I hit whatever had been out there. 

 

Again, I ducked behind the couch and waited.  Anita was also silent. I shot a quick glance in her direction to make sure she hadn’t been wounded.  She was fine our eyes locked as we turned to check on each other.  There was a moment of understanding, no more gunfire, we needed to know if our enemies were still out there and we couldn’t tell if we kept shooting.  I smelled the air, and the first thing I noticed was that we were alone, and the next was the overwhelming scent of blood.

 

The sweet metallic scent was turning my brain into mush.  My mouth was watering of it’s own accord.  I knew that I was close to loosing it big time.  I whimpered and looked at Anita begging her, with my eyes, not to let me loose it now.  We still had the authorities to deal with and if I changed, they were likely to shoot me on sight.  I could feel the part of me that was my beast beginning to rise and stretch. It was impatient to be out.  I opened my mouth and the sound that came out was the wild feral scream of a big cat.  I was terrified I didn’t want this to happen, not now, not yet.

 

Then I felt it. That same presence that had helped me at the Circus. It spoke to my beast with words I couldn’t understand.  Maybe they weren’t words but, what ever it was I could feel my beast retreat slowly back to the darker recesses of my mind.  I looked up slowly. I couldn’t understand why I was looking up.  I was flat on the floor and couldn’t remember how I had gotten there.  When I tried to move, there was this weight on my back.  I rolled my head and saw Caleb holding me down. As soon as I looked at him he let me up.  I leaned into him, though I wouldn’t have told a soul that I liked to be held. Especially if it’s by a good-looking man, I mean what girl wouldn’t. I ask ya?  I sighed in contentment when Caleb wrapped his arms around me.  My whole body was trembling all over and I knew that I wasn’t cold.  It’s just shock I told myself.  Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I was shaking like a newborn babe.

 

Anita was talking to me, but it took a moment before her words registered with me. “Are we alone?”  I nodded. We were alone. She looked at Caleb for confirmation, he nodded as well.  Her next words weren’t so friendly, “Where and when the hell did you get that gun?” her tone, while not hostile, it definitely wasn’t friendly either.

 

“I got it this afternoon, after I left the house.  I saw Diego earlier, when I stopped to get something to eat. When I left there, I saw Micah and Caleb coming down the street and ducked into the first store I came to.  It just happened to be a sporting goods store, or more appropriately, it was a gun and tackle shop.  Don’t worry, Anita, I filed for, and received, a permit for concealed carry. Hell, I even bought a travel gun safe.”  I was rambling and knew it but couldn’t seem to make myself stop.  It was a defense mechanism to combat the overwhelming scent of blood that was all around us.  I knew that I was safe, for the moment at least, but I was fairly sure that when the police arrived that they would know what I was.  I didn’t need a mirror to be able to tell you that my eyes were probably more like the spiked eyes of a leopard, than a human’s.  

 

She nodded her head. At least she wouldn’t have to explain why the hell I had a gun.  Anita got up. She moved cautiously, just in case. You never knew when more bad guys were likely to show up.  Anita picked up the phone and was calling someone. I assumed it was the police,  her voice was curt, giving only the necessary information.  Shortly there after, she hung up the phone,  and came back to where Caleb and I were still sitting on the floor behind the couch.

 

Feeling slightly dumb, I confessed to Anita that there was some sort of container in the back bedroom.  I told her that, I hadn’t touched it, even though I had wanted to.  She nodded her head and was moving off in that direction.  I grabbed hold of her wrist as she walked past.  She looked at me, her eyes shooting daggers.  I wasn’t afraid, maybe I should have been, but I wasn’t.  “Don’t touch it, Anita.  We don’t know what the hell it is.”  My mind kept giving me images of a pressure sensitive device that exploded when touched.  Hell, it could even be a type of magical weapon. Even though most Wiccans don’t do that type of magic for fear of the three-fold rule.  You know, whatever you put out, you will get back three-fold.  Looking unhappy, she sat down with us to wait.

 

We didn’t have long to wait. Within about ten minutes there were cops everywhere.  Ever notice how many people there are at a crime scene?  People were coming and going, doing all kinds of menial tasks.  Some were even collecting evidence, though I don’t know how much there really was.  They were waiting on someone from the Spook Squad before they messed with the box in the back bedroom.  I think I would have been better able to deal with all the traffic if I had been outside where there were other scents besides the dead body and blood in the living room.  I was beginning to sweat, my whole body was covered with it.  I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I would be even out of Anita’s control.  I stood up. Every cop in the room stopped and looked at me. Some even had their hands on the butts of their guns.  I told them that I needed some fresh air and was walking to the door when Caleb caught up with me.  He just laid a hand on my shoulder as we walked out into the night.

 

I wished that I had brought my purse out here with me.  I wanted a cigarette and I wanted one now.  But of course they were in my purse, which was sitting in front of Anita’s couch. In the living room.  And I was soo not going back into that mad house for all the money in the world.  I looked around and noticed a young patrolman standing by a car smoking so I asked him if I could bum from him since it seemed I only brought my habit out here with me.  He kind of chuckled at that and gave me one and a light.  He seemed nervous as I watched he put one cigarette out and immediately lit up another.  Poor kid, I thought, must be his first homicide.  

 

As I was taking a drag from my cigarette my mind flashed to my first homicide.  It was just after I had become a juvenile probation officer.  It had been Felix, he’d been assigned to me, and he was laying face down on the ground.  The back of his head had been just so much meat.  He was covered with tattoos, most of them gang related,  although, there was one of Felix the Cat on his right shoulder blade. His namesake.    His death had been retaliation for another murder committed about a week before.  The Blood Ring gang had killed Felix because they believed that Ghost Town gang had murdered their comrade.  As it turned out, the Ghost Town gang hadn’t killed him. It had been a rogue cop.  But they, The Blood Ring gang, had thought that I was just trying to trick them into giving up Felix’s killer.

 

I was jerked out of my reverie when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist.  I turned my head to stare into Caleb’s eyes.  He kissed my cheek.  “Not that I mind, but what was that for,” I asked him.

 

“You looked so sad.  That I thought that you might needed some cheering up,” he said with a wide mischievous smile.  It was the kind of smile that all guys get when they’re thinking naughty thoughts.  I just laughed and leaned into him, letting the warmth of his body seep into mine.  I was enjoying the feel of being held when a strange power began to touch me. 

 

At first, I thought it was Anita, that was wrong. This power felt different from hers.  It felt like thousands of tiny ants marching all over my body.   I  looked up to see Detective Tammy Reynolds striding across the lawn to where Caleb and I were standing.  I sighed, and took a drag from my forgotten cigarette.  She glared at me and told me to put the cigarette out.  I told her in no uncertain terms, that I would put it out when I was damn good and ready to.  The officers near by could be heard laughing.  That only served to make her even more hostile.  She was gathering power. I could feel it as it brushed my aura (for lack of a better term).

 

Before she could use it Sergeant Storr came up behind her and was looking Caleb and I over.  I took another drag from my cigarette and noticed that if I didn’t put it out I would be smoking the filter.  I ground the butt under my foot and looked up at Sergeant Storr.  He thanked me and I just nodded. No sense in telling him that I hadn’t done it for his benefit.  He asked if he could speak with me alone.  His tone and body language both suggested that he was upset about something.  Detective Reynolds had one of those your-gonna-get-it-now smiles.  I had the strongest urge to smash her face in. I restrained myself, but it was an effort.  I was walking back to the house with Sergeant Storr and when we were about ten foot from the door, I stopped.  Dolph turned to look at me a question in his eyes.

 

“Sergeant, please don’t take this the wrong way, but why the hell would you take a new shapeshifter into a bloody crime scene?” my tone was it’s best concerned pupil voice.  As it was I had all I could do to keep my thoughts in order.  If he expected me to be able to walk around in that house, he had gone and lost his mind.  He looked satisfied, as if this had been some kind of test and I had passed.  I was instantly angry.  “Is there any reason you looked so satisfied?” my voice clearly relaying the fact that I didn’t like what had just happened.   His eyes were stormy and I met them, with anger unmistakably reflected in my stance.  My arms were crossed and I could feel my jaw jut out and one foot slightly in front of the other. 

 

His arms were crossed over his chest as well.  His eyes weren’t stormy now, they were just as full of fire as mine had been only moments before.  Dolph met my stare, his face, that perfect cop face.  He had it down pat.  Hell, if he wanted an award from me, he was in for a hell of a long wait.  I had one of my own and showed it to him.  I felt my face thinning out and showing less and less to the world.  It was almost automatic. I’d learned to use this face when I was dealing with a particularly hostile juvenile.  It seemed to be the only way to get through to those kids and it was sad that you had show them you could kill them without loosing any sleep over their deaths.

 

But I digress.  Where was I?  Ah, Dolph.  He tipped his hand, in a manner of speaking, because I could have sworn that he was surprised that I gave him back the cop face.  His eyes narrowed suspiciously.  He was looking at me like he was trying to figure me out.  I continued to maintain my eye contact, even though I was beginning to doubt he would ever stop looking me over, but he did.  He dropped his eyes, like he had let me win. I’m not sure that I didn’t but I couldn’t have said with complete honesty that he hadn’t let me win. 

 

He seemed to be digesting whatever my gaze had told him. Then he looked at me and said, “We know exactly who you are Luna, and that you’re a Juvenile Probation Officer with the California corrections department.  You have recently been promoted to Detective.  We also have much to discuss with you since your arrival here there is some strange activity with the juveniles in this area.”  As if all this hadn’t been enough to deal with all by itself, he continued on. “We would like for you to do is come down to the station with us, give us your statement, then we will see if we can fill in the blanks in your mind.”

 

I just stared at Dolph.  I mean, how could I not?  This was suppose to be a man of few words and yet to me he had all but dominated the conversation.  I numbly nodded my head.  I told Dolph that I would need my purse and that  I would need to let Anita know where I was going and why.  He nodded and let me go.  I walked into the house in a stupor, grabbed my purse and was out before I even had time to register the fact that I hadn’t freaked in the house.  I allowed myself a smile of triumph and walked over to where Dolph was talking to another Detective.

 

He was balding and looked like he had either dressed in the dark or in a hurry. I couldn’t figure out which.  His pants were a dark brown and wrinkled like they were the cleanest dirty clothes that he had.  His shirt was a pale yellow, and just as wrinkled as the pants. What made it worse was that his tie was done in a blue/yellow combination that was compounded by the fact that his jacket was a blue that matched his tie.  My guess, Zerbrowski.  I couldn’t help myself, I laughed. I never would have let my dad out of the house dressed in that insane ensemble.  They looked up when they heard my laughter.  Zerbrowski took in my Triple H baby doll tee and the jeans I had been wearing for the last few hours.  When his eyes met mine there was a hint of amusement in them.  I didn’t know what he was going to say but I knew it was gonna be a good one.  “Well don’t you just look good enough to eat,” he joked.

 

“I’d say the same to you, Detective, except I wouldn’t want to have an upset stomach,” I laughed, he looked uncertain.  Some people just never got my jokes.  Sheesh.  “Detective, it was just a joke,” I assured him. 

 

“If you don’t mind,” Dolph cut in.  “We still need to get you down to the station.  So are you ready to go?”  His tone all business.

 

I nodded and then remembered that I still hadn’t talked with Anita yet.  I looked around the yard and couldn’t see her anywhere.  I noticed Caleb standing where I had left him.  I walked over to him and told him that I was going to have to go to the station and give my statement and that there were some other things that needed to be cleared up.  He asked me if I needed a lawyer and I told him I didn’t think so.  I also told him to give Anita the same information.  He nodded his head forlornly.  He looked so sad I couldn’t help myself. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  I wrapped my arms around his neck, stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him.  My lips and tongue devouring his mouth leaving us both breathless.  I broke the kiss, with much regret and told him I would be back as quickly as I could.  I could actually hear some of the uniforms around us saying ‘Some guys have all the luck.’

 

I went back over to Dolph and Zerbrowski and told them I was ready to go.  Zerbrowski looked a little shocked.  Dolph looked like he had been sucking on a lemon.  I guess they didn’t appreciate the show.  Some men have no sense of adventure.  Dolph told me that Zerbrowski was going to be taking me back to the station and that he would be in as soon as he could.  Read: He didn’t know when he was going to be back at the station.  I nodded. There wasn’t much that I could do about when Dolph got back.  I turned to Zerbrowski and let him know that I was ready to go when he was.  I guess he was ready because we left.